In 2023, Vivek Ramaswamy was found to have paid a Wikipedia editor to delete references to his involvement in Ohio’s COVID-19 Response Team and his relationship with a stem-cell chemist who pioneered the mRNA vaccine.
Ramaswamy repeatedly pushed COVID-19 vaccine skepticism and attacks on Operation Warp Speed and the FDA.
HEADLINE: “Exclusive: Vivek Ramaswamy Paid To Have His Soros Fellowship And Covid-Era Role Scrubbed From Wikipedia Page” [Mediaite, 5/3/23]
2023: “Jhofferman,” An Editor, Disclosed Ramaswamy Paid Him To Edit His Wikipedia Page And Remove Ramaswamy’s Receipt Of A Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship For New Americans In 2011 And His Role On The State Of Ohio’s COVID-19 Response Team. According to Mediaite, “Longshot presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has accused his prospective Republican rivals of parroting him, but Ramaswamy himself has made an intentional effort to conceal his own biography, even paying a Wikipedia editor to remove potentially politically damaging details about his past from his page. Ramaswamy’s Wikipedia page includes the warning, ‘this article has multiple issues,’ with a note that it ‘contains paid contributions’ and ‘may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia’s content policies, particularly neutral point of view.’ The source of these concerns are changes made by an editor with the screen name ‘Jhofferman,’ who has disclosed that he was paid by Ramaswamy to make alterations to the page. According to the article’s version history, the editor removed lines about Ramaswamy’s receipt of a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 2011. Paul Soros was the older brother of billionaire funder of leftist causes George Soros, who was the biggest individual political donor in the United States during the 2022 election cycle. Also removed from the page on February 9, 2023 was Ramaswamy’s role on the state of Ohio’s Covid-19 Response Team. The editor recorded that Ramaswamy’s Covid-era work was removed from the article by the candidate’s own explicit request, while his Soros fellowship was deemed ‘extraneous material’ by the editor.” [Mediaite, 5/3/23]
HEADLINE: “Ramaswamy Paid Wikipedia Editor To Delete Reference To Harvard Vaccine Scientist ‘Mentor’ Days Before Announcing Campaign” [National Review, 8/22/23]
2023: A Paid Wikipedia Editor Also Removed References To Ramaswamy’s Religion And Deleted References To Ramaswamy’s Relationship With Professor Douglas Melton, Who Was A Stem-Cell Chemist And Pioneered The mRNA Vaccine. According to the National Review, “Now, a National Review analysis reveals the paid editor also removed references to Ramaswamy’s religion and his relationship with professor Douglas Melton. Melton, a stem-cell chemist who was one of the pioneers of the mRNA vaccine, was previously mentioned as a ‘mentor’ to Ramaswamy on his wikipedia page. The biotech entrepreneur-turned-presidential candidate had worked for Melton in his lab while studying biology at Harvard.” [National Review, 8/22/23]
Ramaswamy: “Had I Had The Facts That I Do Now […] I Would Not Have Actually Chosen To Get Vaccinated.” According to the Hill, “‘So I am vaccinated against COVID. Had I had the facts that I do now, as a young thankfully healthy male, I would not have actually chosen to get vaccinated,’ Vivek Ramaswamy said. ‘I think that Anthony Fauci betrays science by substituting the scientific method which depends on free speech and open debate and inquiry with authority, which is actually fundamentally anti-scientific at its core.’” [Hill, 9/18/23]
NBC News: “At Almost Every Campaign Stop, Vivek Ramaswamy Says The U.S. Government ‘Lied To Us About What We Knew About Those Vaccines Before They Were Mandated.’” According to NBC News, “At almost every campaign stop, Vivek Ramaswamy says the U.S. government ‘lied to us about what we knew about those vaccines before they were mandated.’ He has also called out Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director who has become a boogeyman on the right over his decisions as a top medical adviser to the Trump and Biden administrations during the pandemic.” [NBC News, 9/18/23]
2023: Ramaswamy On Operation Warp Speed: “I Think It Was An Example Of Crony Capitalism.” According to the Steve Deace Show via YouTube, “DEACE: Do you think Operation Warp Speed was a success? RAMASWAMY: I don’t. I think that it was an example of crony capitalism. I am the chief critic of crony capitalism, which sometimes gets masqueraded in the form of so-called public-private partnerships. I reject that.” [Steve Deace Show – YouTube, 5/10/23] (VIDEO)
Operation Warp Speed Was The National Program “To Accelerate The Development, Manufacturing, And Distribution Of COVID-19 Vaccines, Therapeutics, And Diagnostics (Medical Countermeasures).” According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services via Archive.org, “On Friday, the Trump Administration announced the appointment of Moncef Slaoui as chief advisor and General Gustave F. Perna as chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the administration's national program to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics (medical countermeasures).” [Press Release – U.S. Department of Health & Human Services via Archive.org, 5/15/20]
2023: Ramaswamy Attacked The FDA Over Its Quick Approval Of COVID-19 Vaccines, Claiming The FDA Was The Agency That Said “You Don't Even Have The Right To Try A Medicine That Hasn't Been Through 10 Years Of Testing,” But Now Said The Vaccine Was “Safe Enough To Be Mandated Upon You On The Basis Of A Lie.” According to Ramaswamy on Real America’s Voice, “POSOBIEC: What about vaccines, vaccine mandates? RAMASWAMY: Dead set against vaccine mandates. And I think that that was one of the major learnings from that last pandemic. And I just want to point out a hypocrisy, Jack, that other people haven't yet pointed out. And I know this because I've interfaced with the FDA, which is a disastrous and corrupt organization. The same laws and agency that say you don't have the right to try, for example, not to, forget a mandate. You don't even have the right to try a medicine that hasn't been through 10 years of testing. That's how dangerous that could be, is the same agency in the same government that says that if there's a vaccine that's pushed through in less than a year, not only is it safe enough for you to try, it's safe enough to be mandated upon you on the basis of a lie. And that's a hypocrisy that I don't think others have pointed out, but I think is the most obvious hypocrisy of the entire policy.” [Vivek Ramaswamy – Real America’s Voice, 7/27/23] (VIDEO)